The Honest Marketer

Friday, 22 February 2013

A competitive offa: How and who should track the effectiveness of outreach activities?

There
is a growing debate within the Higher Education sector about the effectiveness
of outreach activities in widening participation and whether this should be
monitored at a national level. Just last week the 1994 Group called for the
Government to start tracking university interventions through the National Pupil
Database.

It’s
a question we have been asking at Birmingham City University since last term
when, for the first time, we had comprehensive data on full ‘lifecyle’
conversion from enquiry to enrolment. Having installed
a professional enquiry management system in 2011, like many other universities we
are now able to track the effectiveness of the full range of our recruitment
activities – from telephone and email contact to master classes, taster days, UCAS
fairs and Open Days.

BCU’s
decision to hold an additional open day on Saturday
February 23 appears to have paid off. So far, we have had over 1,500
prospective students register to attend, two-thirds of whom are intending to
study this September. Many will just turn up on the day of course.

In terms of reach,
Open Days are by far the biggest of our outreach activities – almost 6,000
prospective students visited us via that route in 2011/12. We also know that
since the announcement of higher fees back in 2011, there has been a phenomenal
increase in Open Day attendance. In the four-year period up to 2010, YouthSight
research showed that over half all students attended no open
days before handing in their UCAS form and a fifth would attend one open day.
Yet by October 2011, the Guardian was already reporting a significant shift in
behaviour with some universities reporting Open Day attendance up by 75% and many
students visiting all five of their UCAS choices (http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2011/oct/31/university-open-days-soar).

Open Days are critical when it comes to educating prospective students
about the benefits of Higher Education, albeit at a particular institution, and
converting interest to application. The YouthSight 2012/13 Fact File found that
agood first impression from universities’ open days was a major factor
influencing university choice for over half of applicants. BCU’s research shows
that 42% of those who attend an Open Day will go on to apply and around a
quarter will eventually study with us.

As well as Open Day conversion rates, we know that roughly 20% of
students who attended subject master classes in previous years went on to enrol
at BCU and I can tell you the Faculty of Technology, Engineering and the
Environment enjoys a 57% conversion rate from its Applicant Visit Days – the highest
of our six Faculties. It sounds fairly impressive, but is it? What I don’t know
is whether this level of conversion is competitive or even effective when
compared to other similar universities.

There is very little shared information when it comes to benchmarking
the success of not just Open Days, but the full range of outreach activities. Universities
like BCU have been committed to widening participation since the outset and all
institutions charging higher fees now have to outline their commitment to
access to the Office for Fair Access (OFFA). To me, OFFA would seem to be a
logical choice to take more of an active role in tracking success and
publishing benchmarks, which will hopefully be the outcome of the shared
strategy for widening access to HE currently under review. But their remit will
be limited, likely only to cover the activities included within institutional Access
Agreements. For a broader assessment of the full range of recruitment
activities, maybe a professional body like CASE or the mission groups
themselves need to step in on behalf of the marketing professionals.

Given the huge investment that is being ploughed into outreach
activities at an institutional level, coupled with the desire at a national
level to increase participation rates in Higher Education, there is surely a
need to monitor such activities more effectively. To me, it doesn’t matter who
takes on the challenge…as long as someone does. It’s in everyone’s interest to
make sure we are getting it right.

About Me

Former journalist with over 20 years of experience in PR, communications and marketing. Now a senior marketing consultant for The Honest Marketer, specialising in Higher Education, supporting universities and colleges. Blogs now on website www.thehonestmarketer.uk